Of course, when it comes to faint praise, nobody does it better than Christina Aguilera. I couldn’t help but chuckle when her critique of Tessanne Chin’s “Redemption Song” devolved into a memory of a vacation she spent riding horseback on the beaches of Jamaica. Oh, Xtina, we’ve been around long enough to know what you mean when you don’t mention the actual vocal. (Translation: You shoulda picked me when I turned my chair for you during the Blind Auditions, beyotch!)

With the competition so close and so cutthroat, though, can you really blame ‘em? If Blake loses Cole Vosbury this week, not only will it break his winning streak at three, it’ll represent his first ever failure to make the finale. And so we’ve got four music superstars attempting to unleash morsels of negativity — while still trying to sound like the world’s nicest kindergarten teachers.

But enough about Blake, Xtina, Adam and Grumpy Cat. Let’s cut to my letter grades for the week’s performances:

Tonight’s Letter GradesCole Vosbury (Team Blake): Hall & Oates’s “Rich Girl” — Grade: B- | Am I the only one who misses the days when Cole was covering unexpected material like The Jeffersons theme and Miguel’s “Adorn”? “Rich Girl” was mostly in tune, but so what? Cole’s rendition of the super-repetitive pop ditty was so devoid of any real passion and any attempt at creativity that it played like — warning: possibly botched baseball reference in 5, 4, 3, 2… — a bunt instead of a swing for the fences.

Tessanne Chin (Team Adam): Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” — Grade: A- | There’ve been moments this season where I’ve doubted Adam’s enthusiasm for and/or skill at mentoring Tessanne, but he redeemed himself by assigning her this mournful anthem by her country’s biggest musical superstar. From the opening note, Tessanne locked in like a guided missile — striking with stunning accuracy and breathtaking intent, and turning verbose phrases like “emancipate yourself from mental slavery” into pure poetry where a lesser vocalist might’ve wound up with word salad. What’s more, Tessanne had to perform under abominable circumstances — bogged down in a sea of audience members where a headphones-sporting producer infuriatingly initiated a round of soulless audience swaying that was completely out of time with the music (and each other). Why The Voice has continued the horrific SwayBot tradition that American Idol has mostly banished in recent years is a mystery worthy of Jessica Fletcher!

Matthew Schuler (Team Xtina): One Direction’s “Story of My Life” — Grade: C- | After last week’s botched Imagine Dragons cover, I figured the odds of the ultra-consistent Matthew coming back with yet another disaster were somewhere between “Xtina Getting Handed a Mic and Not Spontaneously Ad-Libbing” and “Carson Passing on the Opportunity to Add His Own Critique Before Tossing to the Coaches.” But man, was I ever wrong. Matthew’s “Story of My Life” was hampered by a badly mumbled intro, a midsection where he was completely drown out by the background singers and a finale that stretched his upper register to surprisingly strident territory. Dude may have been aiming for another opportunity to upgrade a piece of pop piffle (see: “Wrecking Ball”), but instead, he wound up getting outshone by the carefully coiffed boys from Simon Cowell’s British singing competition.

Will Champlin (Team Adam): Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” — Grade: B- | Will’s opening piano riffed proved he’s got serious skills at the keys, but once again, he refused to stay seated, opting instead to walk to the mic — and botching the lyrics of the opening verse in the process. Will’s vocal was otherwise fairly solid, except for those few final bars where he strained for the top notes like a toddler attempting to reach candy off a kitchen counter. But until Adam advises the guy to actually look engaged and excited on stage — instead of resembling a three-legged impala being dangled over a cheetah pit — I don’t think Will’s got a snowball’s chance in a sauna of winning the whole enchilada.

James Wolpert (Team Adam): The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl” — Grade: A- | James took a scouring pad to the White Stripes’ grimey, feedback-fueled original and transformed it into a quirkier, folkier kind of party — and I’ve got to be honest: I fell in love once and almost completely. Was it a tremendous vocal showcase? No, but like Adam noted, not every song or performance needs to be. And on the plus side, James’ nasal quaver and sing-speak cadence brought to life the quirk of the lyrics: I could practically envision the two sides of the bespectacled fella’s brain meeting right then and there on The Voice stage. Will that be enough to catapult him into the semifinals? I’m not certain, but it certainly ought to be.

Jacquie Lee (Team Xtina): Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby” — Grade: A | I might be a little impartial because a) the sound of Jacquie’s voice makes me go bonkers like a miniature poodle eyeing an open bag of Snausages, and b) “Cry Baby” probably ranks in my Top 10 favorite songs I grew up listening to on my mom’s record player in the ’70s. But even accounting for said biases, I adored how Jacquie attacked this rockin’ woman-done-wrong-but-still-in-love-anyhow anthem with a spiritual and physical gusto that had her clutching the piano for support, dropping to her knees and hurling the mic stand to the floor as if it were the errant lover who still hadn’t learned to appreciate her. I don’t even know how I’m typing this, ’cause the girl straight KILLED ME. That her performance was equal parts banshee howl and songbird-y perfection only added to the awesomeness. As Adam so cheekily said to the inexperienced teen, “if that’s you not having had your heart broken…” (Side note: Maybe next week, wardrobe can avoid exposing Jacquie’s midriff, since she spent, y’know, three-quarters of the performance surreptitiously covering her exposed skin with her arms. Just a thought!)

Cole Vosbury (Team Blake): James Morrison’s “Better Man” — Grade: B+ | Cole’s reign as Season 5’s unlikely (aka aggressively bearded) sex symbol continued unabated with this tender soul ballad that he delivered with heart and delicacy and what seemed like hundreds of ye-olde-timey lightbulbs in the background. I’m not 100 percent sure I’ll remember this very pretty performance six months from now — in much the same way I enjoy my daily bowl of breakfast cereal, but can’t really differentiate one from another — but in terms of activating his fan base to hit iTunes and spend $1.29 to support him, I’m guessing this puppy will do the trick.

Tessanne Chin (Team Adam): Katy Perry’s “Unconditionally” — Grade: B | Or as I like to call it, when incredible voices happen to really crappy songs. In all seriousness, though, I’d belong in the trash bin with Xtina’s discarded eyelashes if I failed to note how Tessanne’s cover was in every single way superior to Katy Perry’s own rendition at last month’s American Music Awards. (Not that that’s saying much, but still…) On the flip side, though, “Unconditionally” seemed a peculiar pick for an artist with the range and ambition of Tessanne — kind of like Mario Batale trying to show off his culinary chops with a package of hot dogs and a can of Spaghetti-Os. In her zest to upgrade the number, Tessanne got a tad bombastic — beginning at 10, and inching her way up to the nonexistnent “13” dial — but she never missed a note in the process. The real question now, though, is whether Blake’s “stop focusing on Jamaica” feedback might hurt her chances with xenophobic voters who want the U.S. flag hanging over the gold-medalist’s podium at the end of their reality singing competitions.

Matthew Schuler (Team Xtina): Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” — Grade: C+ | Yikes. Matthew’s fall from front-runner status has been so sudden and so unexpected, that I half wonder if Paulina Rubio (mentor of The X Factor‘s “Boys” category) has created a voodoo doll of the fetching 21-year-old and squeezes its throat every time he takes the stage. (I kid! I kid! That would imply that Paulina gave two craps about her contestants!) All kidding aside, though, Matthew once again failed to live up to the lofty expectations he created in the early weeks of the competition, trailing off at the ends of notes, sounding strained in his upper register and delivering some falsetto notes that were more like squeaks of surrender. I don’t know if there’s any way Matthew avoids the Bottom 2 this week — it’s just a question of whether his fans will rally on Twitter to give him a second straight Instant Save.

Will Champlin (Team Adam): Avicii’s “Hey Brother” — Grade: A- | I’ll admit I’d never heard this track till about an hour before The Voice‘s live broadcast — yeah, I might’ve succumbed to reading song spoilers this week — but to my almost-virgin ears, Will’s cover was actually an improvement on the original — managing to accentuate the smooth and gritty sides of his instrument with equal aplomb, and ensuring that viewers keep viewing him as a guy who can handle modern music as deftly as he does old-school ballads. All in all, a success — and even more so because Will overcame that silly “this backdrop’s on fire!” nonsense on the screens behind him.

Jacquie Lee (Team Xtina): Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within” — Grade: B | If I’m being honest, I wish Jacquie had chosen a less-obvious ballad from Stripped (which still holds up as Xtina’s masterpiece) — maybe “Soar” or “Walk Away.” Why? Because, even though the lyrics probably resonated with Jacquie moreso than anything she’s tackled this season, “The Voice Within” is, essentially, the musical equivalent of strained peaches. It’s also something of an infinite crescendo — a ditty that builds and builds and builds till there’s a Gospel choir and a key change and a little more holleration than one wants to hear in 2013. Don’t get me wrong, Jacquie hit most of her notes and brought a lot of emotion to the table, too, but the end result was perhaps 15% more pageant-y than I’d expected (or wanted) from a potential future pop star.

James Wolpert (Team Adam): Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” — Grade: B- | “You really can’t overdo this!” exclaimed Adam, as he saddled James with one of the corniest tracks in the history of popular song (the sheet music of which might as well have been stapled to a note reading, “You’re my No. 3 out of the three remaining contestants on my team, bro.”) I mean, COME ON! “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” is only OK in 2013 if it’s part of a goofy M&Ms commercial. This had to be sabotage, right? Adam wasn’t expecting anyone to download this on iTunes, was he? Unfortunately, James (who was sick tonight, Adam cried out) couldn’t quite keep pace with the rapid fire lyrics, couldn’t quite come up with a dance move that didn’t make him look like an inebriated speed skater and couldn’t quite convince me that he didn’t want to roll under a drum set and turn to dust. Given Adam’s (ridiculous) praise, though, that James’ Top 8 Queen cover was one of the best performances in the history of the show, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the guy sail into the Top 5 on Tuesday.

*Should Go Home: Matthew
Will Go Home: Tessanne

(*NBC’s publicity team confirms it’ll just be one artist getting axed this week — and that there’ll be an Instant Save in effect.)

And with that, let me turn things over to you. What did you think of Top 6 performance night? Who were your faves? Who surprised you? Who will and should be at risk? Take our poll below, then expand on your thoughts in the comments!

I’m talking mainly about when Caroline placed above others and was still in the bottom as opposed to those lower bought people.
Or when Jacquie sold poorly and never touched the bottom.
Sometimes it’s ehh

Cole will be safe. The itunes for Caroline showed that she was below Tessanne last week so she was not in a very strong position. If one of Cole’s songs hits the top 10 that’ll indicate he’ll be safe. So far he’s got the highest placement. I actually think he did the best tonight but then again i’m not as fond of screaming a song like some people are. I thought Jacquie especially screamed her last song (but she gets a B- that’s ridiculous) and her first song was just beyond her emotionally.

I went back and forth on them. To me, they’re a push. Both have strengths but are limited vocally, and both have ardent support. I went with James instead of Cole because of the recent Adam obsession. I assumed a halo effect, but the country base will probably take to Cole.

Gosh, am I the minority that LOVEd Cole’s performance tonight? Rich Girl was just okay for me but Better Man – with that dedication (wow!) – I thought was sexy as heck! (And believe me, I’m not normally into tiny country dudes!) Ya… I’m actually gonna buy that song. Crazy.

Add me to the list who adores Cole and his voice. I’m not a fan of the over screeching type of singing and never have been. I go by what I would buy to listen to and so far the only songs I have downloaded belong to Cole.

I really wasn’t impressed with any performance tonight… and I think I know the reason… inadequate preparation, and very mediocre arrangements with mush band accompaniment. THANKSGIVING – I suspect the obvious desire to be with families sacrificed practice time but as understandable as that is it hurts the life-long ambitions of these remaining performers and made millions of viewers watch something far less than it could be.
POSITIVE – earlier in the season..even up to a few performances last week was incredible. The weeks of November 4th and November 11th in particular were incredible. To appreciate it go back and get your headphones on and go for a walk and listen carefully to each song.. listen to the bass, the drummer the keyboardist and the backgrounder singer first more than the singer. Listen to musicians entries and exits on their little kicks and licks.. listen to how the drummer is free to accent rather than participate more heavily in keeping the beat, and how the background singers are doing far less melody backing and are also coming in and flexing the volume on their licks.
.
Two incredible performances November 4th and 11th were Home and Man in the Mirror(yes josh deserved to be eliminated due to past weeks and his seeming reluctance to sing in the better sparser version he did on a very awesome arrangement and backing on Man in the Mirror) Adorn and SaIl and .. well some were original and others just plain grooving.
.
At Last , last week really grooved. In particular, I can hear the bass player this week.. .who is excellent, having inadequate time to develop a groove that the drummer and background singers were expecting .. this isn’t the one persons fault but the interaction and reliance based on probably another few practices sessions with the actual arrangement. .. an arrangement worked out in time to do so. Again .. probably thanksgiving.
.
how is that about the singers? The singers build on the foundation of the groove and/or are distracted by the background singers etc .. they need to mesh .. or can’t explore. If they sung acapela or played their guitar or piano themselves it would be on the singers.. when they’r e backed by a band and forced into an arrangement.. the singer’s performance is materially limited or assisted by what they’re on top of.

Good thoughts Sean! You’re right that all that matters is that there are enough people who like to listen to make a career viable. Whether or not people who like a different style like her means nothing.
.
I don’t like Celine Dion. ..obviously hundreds of millions of fans all over the world did. I thought Bruce Springsteen is a great song writer but he turns me off with a certain emotional attitude he brings to lyrics he wrote himself. Not to be snarky but ijust don’t enjoy Tessanes take on songs..it is too serious with too little laughing at the insanity s . Blues singers of old could delineate injustice and predicament without anger or selfpity but essentially assuring themselves that at least they new better and a faith thst the warmsnd wonderful spititual truth would prevail.

Enough words. Thing of jow Ray Charles or Even Louis Armstrong would take on the emotion and let parts glow. That confident feeling is what I need despite any plight descibed. There are modern singers that have that too.. and some but haf then lost it

She doesn’t do anything for me, either. I think the problem is that she is missing some kind of emotive quality I need. I keep comparing her to Christina, who also has a stellar voice, but who plays with it for us and in doing so makes the song more interesting. Or even Will, who has a few layers of performance. I don’t get it, but I didn’t get “Cry Baby” from Jacqui, either; I thought it was just hideous, so…

you’re right…and all i could think of during her “scream fest” shrill version of this song was allison iraheta’s gut wrenching version on american idol a few years back. go to youtube and check out how allison tugs at your heartstrings with her version. the song is not about vocal gymnastics or how piercingly high one can shriek!

I agree, she is awful, a fraud (she’s not Jamaican—I know her, anybody else notice how she became super Jamaican when she had NO accent before? She’s Chinese and from Boston and horrible, she screams, doesn’t sing and claims to be 28? I know for a fact she is a LOT older.

A couple of questions. I am fairly neutral regarding Tessanne, but are you saying that you know her personally or that you know her type? I am asking because you said, “I know her…” There’s nothing wrong with being from Boston imo. Also, the producers on reality shows often suggest that contestants “play up” certain aspects of their personalities. Tessanne may simply be a pawn in this process and I don’t think she deserves such harsh remarks.

What the actual f%$# are you talking about? The woman was born and raised in Jamaica and has been a successful Jamaican reggae artist for years! She is not Chinese, she is of Chinese decent. What? you think just because she is not black with dreadlocks that she cannot possibly be from Jamaica. “Out of many ONE PEOPLE” you ignorant fool. Lying about her age? She is the youngest of 5 siblings and is one of the most humble, genuinely nice people ever. Keep your ignorance to yourself please.

How is tessanne a fraud? And what do you mean she is from boston? she was joking when she said she is from boston. You also said she is chinese, well actually as far as her ethnicity is concerned, she is not just chinese, she is multi-racial, her father is chinese and cherokee indian, her mother is half white and black, but most of all she is jamaican. Jamaican is not a race it’s a nationality. And what do you mean she’s never had a jamaican accent before, go check out youtube videos of her with her natural jamaican accent, years years before the voice was even founded. Wow she faking it then too? you a joke.
Your next statement is that she looks older than 28, well she cut her hair and has a more mature look. But you are trying to degrade her because the person who want to win, tessanne is outshining them, so you come on here all heated up and fiery as if you will think that will somehow stop tessanne from winning or doing well in the competition.
Anyway she already won, so hate all you want.
Jamaican usually don’t regulary define themself as particular race, they just say jamaican no matter what race, and that’s why you regular hear tessanne mention “my people” she means jamaican people, not chinese people, since jamaica is one of the most diversed countries in the caribbean
IF you think tessanne is just a fake, go google her and see how stupid you look, you hater and an ignorant one.
You are just jealous.

I was ecstatic when Tessanne’s first song was revealed to be Redemption Song.., until they showed Adam encouraging her to change the melody into something schmaltzy enough to be heard nightly in Vegas. Christ! In Adam’s hands, she may as well be a slightly more soulful Celine Dion.

I love Celine! I have every CD she has recorded and my husband paid big money for me (us) to sit up front and center at her concert for our anniversary. Okay now, about James…did you hear his diction? Just terrible. And finally, Adam liked watching Will think? Okay, I liked Slezak coming up with xenophobic voters. I know for a fact they exist.

whew… i was starting to think that i was the only one! i really don’t get the appeal of this little girl – she’s not near mature enough, and thanks to her age and xtina’s fantabulous coaching, she’s really just shouting these songs. did no one else truly hear how awful cry baby was? flat, wavery, screechy and yelly. yucky.

i actually do too (feel sorry for her a bit). she’s getting all kinds of praise, when she needs constructive criticism. i noticed several people comment on the probability of her getting better in a few years when her voice matures – i think it’s more than just her voice… she’s lacking in life experience that really fleshes out songs like cry baby. you can have the most perfect pitch, best tone in the universe and it won’t mean diddly if you don’t have the emotion behind the voice. the girl is just plain too little to understand the words she’s singing, much less the emotion that put them to paper. and for some reason, xtina appears to be coaching her down a road that’s teaching her that yelling=emotion and flinging-your-body-oddly-to-the-ground-on-queue=passion. she kinda reminds me of a little girl putting on mommy’s high heels and lipstick and all the grown-ups gather around and say ‘oh my, look at how grown-up you are!’

You nailed it, rolichan. That’s exactly what I think of Jacquie. But you can’t blame her age because Jessica Sanchez was around the same age when she was on Idol and turned in an awesome performance of And I Am Telling You. But I don’t think Jacquie is anywhere as good as Jessica is–no matter what Slezak says.

hi tyler – JESSICA! that’s her name! i’ve been reminded of jessica sanchez from the get with little jacquie (couldn’t remember her name though). i’m afraid you and i are gonna have to agree to disagree on jessica’s performance of ‘telling you’. jessica had loads more control over her voice than jacquie does, but she had that same weird thing going on behind her eyes when she delivered – like she was trying to remember what emotion she was supposed to be portraying (kinda like she’s actually thinking ‘okay, now be sad and make the sad face. okay, now be mad and make the mad face.’). i remember calling her a lovely mimic – like she watched the original performance of songs and tried really hard to make her face look the same, her body move the same… it’s a poor substitute for true emotion and connection to a song. so, i do agree that jessica’s instrument is far better than jacquie’s – but i’m still holding firm that neither of these girls should be singing these more mature songs because they just don’t have the basis to really feel what’s behind the lyrics and that comes through loud and clear in a performance. i’d be perfectly happy listening to either one of them singing more age appropriate stuff – but keep them away from janis! at least until they’re much more emotionally mature. :)

Lol at “fantabulous.” I’m not sure how well people remember Christina’s team from two seasons ago. The entire team was composed of singers who were consciously emulating Christina’s style (including vocal acrobatics) and, in the end, it didn’t work out for them. I like Jacquie (just as I liked some of those singers from two seasons ago), but it’s a no-win situation trying to be the next Christina Aguilera (and I think Xtina knows that).

I did. I thought her second performance started out much better. When she hit the big notes, it, too, went off a cliff. (I swear people are voting for cute. ) I think this girl has a voice I would like better if she were smoking cigarettes. Right now it is very shrill. If I want to hear that, I will sing myself.

Amen, preach on. I can’t stand the tone of her voice. It’s way to high for me. She just screams every song and is praised because she can ‘belt it’. I’d rather just listen to her sing, not yell. I would never buy any of her songs. Never. I find myself searching for the remote control so I can hit fast forward every time she’s on. Why Slezak likes her so much, I will never understand.

I don’t either! I can only guess that Michael is responding to the Divaesque-Over-The-Top aspect that every performance has become and therefore every song sounds exactly alike). But that’s exactly the problem, she’s not a Diva. Patti LaBelle could eat her for breakfast. She’s a child who is playacting and it shows. (someone else mentioned that she’s like a SNL skit at this point and that’s not far off). I don’t hate the kid, she has great promise. But chicka needs to rein it in because right now she’s just wearying.

thanks for posting my exact impression of jacqui :)
where are the soulful, griitty husky voiced women of song these days????. i sure wish these singing shows would spend some time searching for them instead of these banshee screamers.

I actually blame a mediocre band arrangement and execution with little groove to let a singer go with and build from. The band has been absolutely super so much this season Ican only suppose Iit is fatigue from weeks and weks of being in crush mode but probably even more due to needs to be with family for the holiday

oh sure, by all means, the youngest and cutest deserves to win because of what? oh yeah, she’s 16 and cute … but what was up with the ludicrous floor show theatrics? my guess? – to cover the fact that vocally she was way way out of her depth – no janis joplin is this kid. i like her and think she’s got a voice… but this was just a mess of a song choice and an absurd performance.

I was expecting Jacquie to SLAY Cry Baby, because she sings amazing every week. But I didn’t think her version did it justice at all. Instead of coming unhinged on the chorus like she did with Put A Spell On You, her voice was too light and didn’t have enough texture. I just didn’t feel the passion like I felt when Allison Iraheta sang it. I thought her second performance was much better.

Totally agree with what you said about Jacquie (although I wasn’t expecting her to slay it). Her voice was too light and she kind of had the Danielle Dead Eyes, didn’t have the passion she had with Put a Spell on You.

Nope. Not feeling the love for her on this one either. She totally missed the mark for me. I just don’t think she knows “where” the emotions should go yet because she simply has no personal references. I appreciate her passion though…

@Teeny Bikini: I can’t help but blame Xtina for this wrong song choice. Why is Jacquie singing a Janis Joplin song? Is this the type of artist she wants to become? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again–I still have no idea what kind of artist Jacquie wants to be.

@Tyler. I agree. It would be nice if the artists could go back to picking their own songs for the next few weeks – just see *what kind of artist* they think they are… I haven’t a clue with Matthew or Jacquie. Though Tessane seems to be hitting her stride at just about the right time.

I think there is a VERY high probability that Jacque will win, but I’m not feelin’ the love. Although she put all of herself into “Cry Baby”, her upper register always makes me cringe; it’s like the proverbial fingernails on chalkboard. And her second performance was an absolute mess; I closed my eyes while I listened to her; she was sharp half the time and flat the other half, no control whatsoever. But, as usual, she gets a pass from the judges. I’d love to see Tessanne, Will and James as the final 3… they are the TRUE artists of this season.

I don’t think Jacquie is the favorite. I think Cole is. Unfortunately the type of singer Jacquie is tends to polarize part of the voting crowd so it’ll be pins and needles as to whether she even makes the finale (although I personally think she easily should) and even tonight is a bit worrisome.
.
James has been a lot more inconsistent with pitch and going out of control than Jacquie has. Of the remaining singers I think he has been the most inconsistent over the season by far. He seems to have a big fanbase though so might be safe. Tessanne has been perhaps the most perfect in those regards, but her phrasing has often been somewhat artistically lacking IMO and that is why she hasn’t had as many moments perhaps (I did think that she did really well with her first song last night though, on her second I thought she dropped back to a bit more boring phrasing and all, I thought Katy Perry brought more feeling and artistry to the phrasing of that song when she did it on her live album CW release appearance, although Tessanne still sang it well).

I was always a tentative Tessane fan, but she cemented my support tonight. That was awesome. And I personally didn’t think Matthew was horrible like many are saying tonight. I thought the two who had some really scary moments vocally were Will and James.

Absolutely agree with you Angie_Overrated. Tessanne was excellent and Matthew was VERY solid. I thought Will had some major issues with his first song and I thought James had major issues on BOTH of his.

How could you say Mathew was solid. He fell on his face tonight. his last 4 songs have been abismal at best. he relies on stage theatrics and testimonials to try and persuade the voters. Really!! This is The Voice, not The Actors Guild. Also, Tessanne is over rated. She has no promotability as a singles seller of platinum. While she has a great voice, she quite simply rates as a fantastic back up singer. JACQUIE, WILL, and COLE have consistent voices with passion and emotion. They don’t have to fake who they are!!!

Matthew had one performance last week that I’ll give you was abysmal. But I firmly believe your statement that he relies on stage histrionics and testimonials to persuade voters is induced by a combination of wormwood, Alzheimers, and general brain malfunction. He’s one of the best singers the show has ever had in its history. His ability to wail on high notes rivals any of the best singers who are currently making millions of dollars to do so. And he’ll only get better with age. He won’t win this competition, but my lord can that boy sing.

I respectfully disagree. You don’t have to always top your last performance. You just need to be consistently good. Last week he admittedly sucked, but I thought Matthew sounded pretty good tonight. I might need to relisten to his performances because the consensus is that he blew it, but I didn’t hear that at all.

Or maybe you’re hearing something I am not? ;) To be honest, I feel he has a very specific niche. There really is nothing wrong with that – actually I wish he would explore that alternative rock thing more because I feel that is when he’s at his best – and having the most fun.

Yeah, maybe. I am predisposed to liking Matthew, so I may have overlooked his alleged crappiness tonight. I’ll relisten now… :)

But quite honestly, I like all of them who are left. This is such a vast improvement from last year when the Swon Brothers were top 3. Even Will and James whom I think had rough nights were not too bad.

Oh, you are so right about this Top 6. Seriously. They may not all float my boat – but there is no denying the talent this year. Whoever goes home tomorrow… it will be rough. I will not enjoy seeing Matthew or Will or anyone go home at this point.

I respectfully disagree to respectfully disagree, :-)
I think these shows do want contestants to display a pattern of growth – even if it’s a slow and steady climb. I think that’s part of the game. Otherwise I don’t think they’d have the whole Coaching thing serve such a front & center role.

Yup, it was like that last season. I just don’t understand the logic between cutting two after cutting only one. If they want us to know the artists better, then cutting two this week and only one next week makes more sense.

And I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re giving Jacquie a little too much leeway for her second performance. It’s really not a B performance. Her high notes were really screechy and there was no connection.

So are all the other coaches other than Blake. Why single out Jacquie? Heck even today Adam was going on about how he loved tossing songs coming from all over the place to his contestants tonight. Why not make the show interesting and show off voices that can handle all sorts of things?

@Tyler – and Tessanne is your favorite two and Adam was specifically going on about how her two songs tonight were so different and that was so awesome and you appear to have loved it, so why the heck is wrong when any other contestant does the same thing?

@HTGR: First, the 2 songs Tessanne sang tonight were NOT chosen by Adam. So if they seemed inconsistent–that’s why. Adam chose a Bob Marley song and Tessanne chose a Katy Pery song. Second, Adam has been pretty consistent with his song choices for Tessanne. Since the live rounds he has chosen essentially R&B/reggae music, such as Jimmy Cliff, Gladys Knight, No Doubt and Bob Marley. What has Xtina chosen for Jacquie: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, U2, Zedd, Michael Jackson and Janis Joplin. That’s what I meant when I said that Jacquie was all over the map. So as you can see, based on the songs Adam has chosen for Tessanne, she is nowhere all over the map like Jacquie (based on the songs chosen by Xtina).

I was kind of thinking Michael is suffering hearing loss. (Sorry, guy.) Lately I have found some of his favorites not just bad, but horrendous. I can barely leave the volume on for Jacqui; it kind of shocks me.

I was SOOO on board with the opening of Jacquie’s second song. I literally got goose bumps, which happens rarely from this show. She sounded bleepin’ amazing. But then she lost it it in the middle when her pitch went astray as usual. I want to love her, but she’s all over the map.

Will was having some serious pitch issues, especially on the Sam Cooke song, I think he will be in the bottom 3 with unfortunately Matthew and James. I think Itunes will be the deciding factor since all downloads from an artist count, not just this week’s songs.

I HATE the freakish swaybots. How in god’s name can the producers actually think that adds anything other than irritation. Aside from being annoying to audience, have you noticed they’are always off time? That’s got to be terribly distracting to the actual performer. And don’t even get me started on when they all form widdle tiny hearts with their hands because yeah, that’s what grown up do all the time at concerts.

I thought Tessanne’s “Redemption Song” was totally over-sung to the point that it became completely unrecognizable. It’s a very pretty, very simple melody, and she belted her way through 80% of it.

I thought that James’ choice to do an acoustic arrangement of “Fell In Love with a Girl” was baffling. It was even more baffling because it sounded like he was still trying to sing it in the original garage rock style. The dichotomy going on in this performance was just mind-boggling.

Surprised by how powerful Jacquie was. I’ve always thought she’s great, but if she wins -which I’m starting to believe will happen- she’ll probably become the first artist to come out of The Voice to have an incredible future as a succesful arstist. I was truly disappointed by James’ performances and believe that he will be the one going home. The final 3 will probably be Jacquie, Tessane and hopefully Will (or Matthew). Cole would be interesting on any other team besides Blake’s.

I kinda wish Jacquie didn’t sing Xtina’s song – it just pointed how far she has to go to reach that level of execution. I am also not buying her singing songs that are 3 times her age anymore. It is clear that she will be able to sing them *one day* with the emotional depth/experience they require – but not now… What happened to fun, current songs like “Stompa”? I didn’t buy Cry Baby. It was just weird to me.

I still voted for her though. Michael, Tessanne is not going home. Especially if she needs a Twitter save, her fans will nail that save to wall if she needs it. She has a ton of Twitter Followers.

I am not a fan of Katy Perry — I don’t like her style of songs. And “Unconditionally” is one of the least interesting songs she does. But seriously, listen to them both and tell me that Tessanne sings it better. Honestly. Now, that said, Tessanne might end up a more interesting singer (though since this is The Voice, we’ll never hear from her again, so we won’t know).

Agree about the song ‘Unconditionally’–don’t like it as I said in my critique above.
However, I stand by my opinion that Tessanne sings it better. To me, Katy shouts it, but Tessanne changed it up and gave it more character.

Gosh, it WAS torture. My cat is more soulful than Matthew. Why has he stopped singing songs that got him here? For the life of me, I don’t understand why they need to “stretch themselves” in the middle of a competition. Just sing what you’re good at and just stretch a *teeny* bit so you don’t get boring. LOL – I think my rant is over. :)

I’m going to have to agree with you. And did you catch the Coach’s reviews? Um… not so much.
No one would even MENTION the song. Even Christina went right to something like, “If we make it another week, I promise I have great ideas…….. blah blah.” She totally gave herself away!
Ya.. it was really bad.

Though honestly, imo, at many points in the night it seemed that he and Jacquie were vying to out-sing each other simply in terms of VOLUME!

Teeny Bikini – I’m late to the party here, but was so angry about XTina’s handling of Matthew that I just had to let it go for a while. I completely agree with your comment. But the lack of soulfulness, to my ears, seemed a result of a voice that was seriously strained. IMO, Christina threw Matthew under the bus with song choice and mentoring over the past few weeks. Everything that Matthew brought to his audition and battle round performances seemed systematically stripped away by her relentless focus on one kind of song, ones with endless big moments and loud, high, sustained notes. Hallelujah being an exception. After his audition I saw him going in an Alt Rock direction similar to James. I think if he had he would still be here.

I didn’t get that impression at all. Right after Hallelujah they even went on about how Matthew had roared up and was the leader. And for those, I don’t think you, saying he should have been given more songs in the style that he said early on that he favored, well, weren’t the few he got in that style the very songs that made up most of his worst performances?

HTGR – Do you have a Google alert for anyone who brings up “Jacquie” in a sentence? :) You crack me up! I still play his “Hallelujah” interpretation in my car, so I’m happy… I think Jacquie justifiably has earned her spot in the Top 3, even though there are still things she could work on. But I could say that about any of them. Really. I am lovin’ this Top 3 – as long as it doesn’t include James…

Haha, no, but my phone has all msgs posted beamed to it. So it takes just a second to whip off a response to a particular message, or perhaps every message that gets posted haha, whenever there is a boring lull for a second in whatever else I’m doing.
.
I just don’t think it’s clear that Matthew was always second fiddle to Jacquie from the start. Heck, I think he may have even been first fiddle unless just a week or two ago. Certainly for a few weeks there he seemed to be first fiddle. Whatever the case I really didn’t get the feeling that she was treating him as a whatever ever since the beginning!

Okay you :) Not from the beginning… And maybe not at all. I guess I am looking to make sense (but not really) of how someone could go from Golden Boy/given the pimp spot from week to week to performances that took bizarro swan dives off a cliff. I don’t think I can remember such a dramatic shift in momentum in these competitions, but then again I have a short memory. By the way, Tessanne’s in the Top 10 and I assume Jacquie will be by tomorrow. Right now, she’s number 11. The others aren’t far behind. This will be interesting.

Kudo’s to you. You hit the nail on the head. Mathew fell on his face for the third song in a row. Bye. Bye. James should be next. Too karaoke!!! Tessanne has a strong and beautiful voice, but not promotable. She will not win the final. Great back up artist on world wide stage though. Cole could make an album you want to listen to every song. Jacquie is promotable for maybe Disney parts. Not promotable for an entire album. Will is iffy. He keeps getting better every week. With proper coaching he could produce an album. I see it coming down to Will and Cole!!!

I thought Jacquie was a screechy mess, to be honest. The Voice Within was just…off. I don’t find Jacquie able to do anything else other than BELT and then go off key once it’s melodic. I found Tessanne to be the best and most appealing this week. Redemption Song showed restraint and Unconditionally was a cool take on a song that could’ve gone seriously bad. Cole’s voice is so NICE. He’s smooth. It’s s shame that Matthew peaked early, he was my favorite.

I’m sorry, but “restraint” and Tessanne don’t belong in the same time zone, especially on her performance of “Redemption Song.” If you think that mess was restrained, you clearly have no idea what that song is supposed to sound like.

Yes, Tessanne gets squeaky when she goes high. Coaches do her no favor by over-praising her and not working with her. She’s straining. It will ultimately hurt her voice (and I suspect her career). She sounds great when she sings lower without strain. A vocal coach would help her. It happened in both of her songs. But, to be fair, also with some others — Will, Jacquie . . . It’s tough.

I tend to agree with you in regard to Tessanne “straining” and what MIchael called her “bombastic” tendencies. However, I think Tessanne, and perhaps Jacquie, will be the ones to watch after this season is over. I don’t think James, Matthew or Cole will be very successful after the show. Will is the hardest one to project. I think he will be a critical success, but I’m not sure Will will make it on a commercial level. Just my two cents.

Great observation Ginger, I think you are totally right. Blake just lets them do what they were designed to do, and it works, 60-80 percent of the time. Wish he had found a way to restrain Jermaine Paul that season though, so many trills and runs, ugh, bad flashback.

Lol…..are you for real? Clearly you don’t know what “Redemption Song” is suppose to sound like. Tessanne’s rendition was absolutely beautiful. She has such great vocal control that she remains the only one to have delivered a top class performance each time of asking. Blake is absolutely correct in saying that Tessanne is a world class vocalist. Those of us who know what a great vocalist should sound like can certainly agree that Tessanne has been flawless. Her breathing in between notes is exceptional and her range is just totally mind-blowing. Hands down, Tessanne is the best voice on the show. When Blake says he has never heard anyone on the voice sing like that before…he was right!! I have to be objective whether I like the person or not, and Tessanne seems to be a lovely young lady. If she does not win, then it certainly won’t be because she was not the best…..because she is!

I agree as I thought Tessanne was the best of the night on both her songs. Jacquie does not have the life experience to pull off a Janis Joplin song. Her second song was actually a better choice for her but she seriously went off the rails with that one and screeched out the majority of it. That she gets an A for that mess is ridiculous and shows someone has a serious bias problem.

It just seemed like Jacquie was trying to be like Lena Horne or Billie Holliday when she sang Cry Baby and IMO she couldn’t pull it off. I have no idea why Xtina wants Jacquie to overreach her potential.

Thank you. I wish they wouldn’t play the sick card. People work when they are sick all the time. Geez. James + Meatloaf = a bad combination. All he had to do was sit on the stool and play the guitar and sing. That was when he has his highest selling song. I never understand why they don’t try to replicate success on this show. It’s just bizarre.

As I said elsewhere — I think Adam was sabotaging James and Will — not playing the sick card. He kept pointing out mistakes and then acting as if it was no big deal. It’s like saying “I know people will notice how ugly you are, but really you have a great personality and I hope they will vote for that.”

Yeah, agree with both of you. Meatloaf is unique–hard to see anyone pulling that off.
TB-so true about not replicating the Joni Mitchell moment! Why oh why continue to push the rock persona when it’s clearly NOT working?

I don’t really see it as playing a “sick card.” I mean, it shouldn’t be used as an excuse if he does *horribly,* but even getting a little sick can seriously affect your voice. Heck, menial things likw being in certain temperatures, what you’ve eaten and how long ago you ate can affect your voice. So yeah, people work all the time when they’re sick, but as a singer myself being sick really, really changes things. The slightest thing- not enough breath, vowel placement, whatever- can make or break a line.

How you gonna give Matthew Schuler’s When a Man Loves a Women a C and Jacquie’s Cry Baby a perfect score? I continue to find her voice very shrill and emotionless, and while I didn’t love Matthew’s performance, these ratings seems a bit biased. But to each their own I suppose.

I think Carson is just trying to direct the judges comments into a somewhat productive conversation. We have all seen how off the rails they can go (horses in Jamaica). I think it is a good thing for him to try to direct the traffic a little bit. Plus, Carson has been in the music and entertainment business for a long time, he is entitled to his opinions.

I’ve thought he was going home every week since the live shows started and he’s never even been in danger, so I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the probability that he’s finale bound. And especially since he got the pimp spot this week. My two least favorites this season sang last and second last. Figures!

How right you are!! I miss Caroline. She was a breath of fresh air. Evryone talks about all the talent this season. Quite frankly, I’ve heard much better on other programs. The remaining artists are all sub par and not golden material. At least Caroline was different, unique, and her voice was authentically soothing

perfect summation – especially the last. i was so sad to see caroline go. sad, and more than a little mad. was so sure this was cee lo’s year and i honestly believe that caroline was the most marketable, affable and consistent one there was. i just KNEW she was going to win. so disappointed.

My favorite performance of the night was Tessanne’s “Redemption Song,” which was a flawless, emotional vocal. Her second performance on “Unconditionally” was good, but I just don’t think that’s a great song choice. Will is definitely growing on me, and I preferred “A Change Is Gonna Come” over “Hey Brother,” but both were great vocals. James also had a great night with a reserved vocal on “Fell In Love with a Girl” and the theatrics of “I Would Do Anything for Love.” Jacquie sounded good, not great on “Cry Baby,” and her performance of “The Voice Within” had some beautiful moments that were unfortunately overshadowed by the screechiness of the oversinging that dominated the last two-thirds of the song. Cole’s performance were good, and “Better Man” was definitely better, but the rasp in his voice isn’t enough to keep him interesting. Matthew had a bad night after some problems in his lower range on “Story of My Life” and a lot of misses on “When a Man Loves a Woman”, and after last week’s lackluster performance, I’m not sure the goodwill from earlier performances will save him this time around.

Look, Matthew was not great tonight. There is no arguing that point. But James was HANDS DOWN the WORST tonight! I don’t even understand how you guys, including you Michael, could’ve missed that. Matthew had bad song choices and lackluster performances, but both of James’s performances were an assault on my ears (and if you guys head over to the message boards on IMDb, you’ll discover the same sentiment). I think it says something about James this week that even Adam – his coach – felt the need to tell everyone James was sick. If we’re talking codes, that’s code for “Yeah, I know he sucked. You know he sucked. He knows he sucked. Maybe you can give him a break?” Matthew was no prize, but James has been far more inconsistent than any other contestant and no way anyone deserves to go of the 6 before James. Michael, your grades for James should be drastically lower, like D+/C- level. And even your B- grade of Will’s “A Change is Gonna Come” is way too high. I love Will, but that was just bad. Horrible arrangement, pitched too high, he fell out of the key several times, etc.

First of all Ron, you are way to stressed out about this. I thought James was great tonight. I liked both songs and if he was sick all I can say is he deserves more credit. Matthew was bad and has been getting worse every week. I loved Will and tessanne’s performances tonight. Jacquie was good. My favorite again this week is Cole.

I think you’ve nailed it Ron. Will’s first performance had some major pitch issues. Both of James’ were weak. Agree that it is James’ time to go. His ‘nerdy indy rock’ shtick has gotten old. I love how just because he wears glasses people call him “quirky” when his voice is extremely ordinary and forgettable, and his performances are always just routine. Plus he’s by far the least consistent of the 6 left. I think he should have left last week instead of Caroline.

As of now, Cole, Jacquie and Tessanne are the strongest on iTunes. Matthew’s version of Hallelujah is still charting higher than his current songs tonight but he’s still higher than Will or James. I think one of those two will go home.

There are two songs this week. So you’d really have to combine the two to get an average. Jacquie’s first song is higher, but her second is the second least popular of all (at least as of right now). With being that said too, Cole is clearly in front with James and Matthew fighting for last.

I concur. She has the strongest voice with the best range. Cole is a snooze fest and Tessanne’s voice is monotonous. Gawd, every song Tessanne sings sounds the same from beginning to end. Blah! Go away Tessanne!

I totally agree, and I think she might win. She certainly deserves it. The thing about Jacquie is that she has so much raw talent and her range is crazy. She’s not perfect by any means: she strains occasionally, sometimes she looks uncomfortable on stage, she overuses voice breaks. All true. But more important is that she’s got such power and control, and she completely embodies and projects the spirit of the music. People keep talking about how young she is because she lacks the experience that most performers rely on to do that. Most young performers are uncontrolled and superficial. She’s neither, and that’s pretty impressive. I suspect that even she doesn’t totally understand why she can do that, but she can and it makes her stand out.

Tessanne, as fantastic as she is, isn’t nearly dynamic enough to win a show like this, I don’t think.

I thought Jacquie Lee was incredible as usual. The theatrics with the Janis Joplin song were just that…..Janis Joplin theatrics with a Janis Joplin, 70s aura of hurt and desperation. She should win…has the best range. I am so tired of Tessanne…what a monotonous voice.

She was nothing like Janis Joplin. Jacquie didn’t have the emotional experience to pull off that song. She copied the moves and the sounds and that’s about it. She should really be singing songs more about her experience instead of all this yelling that Christina has her doing.

Lynn, the repetitiveness of your comments about Tessanne is approaching the repetitiveness of Carson’s comments about Jacquie’s age. In other words, we get that you don’t like Tessanne. No need to tell us over and over.

Sorry but I disagree with Slezak. James was A-W-F-U-L on both songs and Matthew should NOT go home based on tonight. He had two decent performances. Tessanne was fantastic on both. Jacquie was decent, albeit a little shrill at times. Will had a weak first and a strong second. Cole was consistent on both.

I agree with your evaluations of the talent tonight. Also, it seems like some of the coaches do undercut singers on their own teams. CeeLo did not seem to appreciate Caroline at all and Adam is subtly taking jabs at James whenever it is convenient. James and Caroline were definitely not my personal favorites, but their coaches (perhaps acting on the advice of producers) put them on slow boats to China.

I think Adam originally thought that James was going to be his winner. Tessanne was going to help weed out the “lessers” and stuff, but she was going to stumble and fall for whatever reason. Will was his “sacrificial lamb”. Will was originally the one he could do without, but then things got totally turned around. Tessanne is his most consistently popular contestant while James is stumbling. So I guess it makes sense that Adam is throwing his boys under the bus now. I do think that Tessanne would be better coached by Christina as Christina would probably not focus so much on reggae (which none of Tessanne’s choices have been) and get Tess to have a bit more “fun” with the vocals.

CeeLo, I think, did appreciate Caroline, but he misjudged where they were in the competition and
so he didn’t challenge her when he should have and vice versa.

I think Matt was getting coached solely on what happened last week. He just wanted to get out of the hole he dug. I think he redeemed himself, but that others having lackluster performances (Will wasn’t stellar and I thought James wasn’t great either) really helped him out. On his own, Matt isn’t where he needs to be. Hopefully, he gets next week to really get back in the thick of things. But he is finally back in with the pack.

James was…blah to me. I thought his Meatloaf was too karaoke. He IS NOT a stage-stomping, hellfire and chandelier shaking rocker. This song put the exclamation point on that statement. Everything about it screams unauthentic. His speak-sing version of Fell in Love With a Girl left me wanting less speaking and more singing. You can actually sing a song and still give it some punk and punch… Tina Turner does it all the time.

I liked Jacquie tonight (but I like her every night). But I would have cautioned her against Christina Aguilera ballads, especially that ballad (and Hurt). Yes, they have some similarities, but Jacquie isn’t Christina. Sweet thought though, although Chris Mann already did it.

Cole… consistent, but I want him to be more dynamic. He was at the start of each line-up, and I completely forgot about him after each round. He is further down the same well Tessanne is in… they both give the same thing every night.

Cole: He’s boring… but people like his tone.
Tessanne: Loved her first song, absolutely did not care for her second song simply because I couldn’t take her or it seriously. It was vocally great… But idc
Will: When are they going to stop applauding him for over exerting himself on his songs. Seriously, he kept on going for all these higher notes that he didn’t hit on his first song. Second song was just stupid.
Matthew: First song was definitely one of the better performances in the first half. Second song…. Was vocally good with signs of soul… Then the soul straight up disappeared. Dont think he did enough to send him packing but he shouldn’t be happy with his performances.
Jacquie: Loved “Cry Baby” but her vocals just seemed too smooth in comparison to the edge of the arrangement.
And in a perfect world… She would’ve avoided “The Voice Within” like the plague. Not because it was bad… But that song is like the anthem of “screamy” songs and it just didn’t do her any service. Anything but a Christina song would’ve been fine for her. But Christina is essentially the queen of “screamers” and while people accept Christina as a “screamer” they hate Jacquie for it.
James: first song was bleh. Second song… M&M’s… All I have to say.

I predict team Adam losing a buddy for once tonight. Unless there’s no instant save then I’m unsure to the max.
Matt has one more chance with me tbh. Just one more.
Tonight was one of those nights where I just stopped caring about the show. I feel that way for one week on every one of these shows. This was a pretty bleh night for people known to be spectacular. But then again I’m not surprised because when they did dedication week for the semi finals instead, hated that week too.

People accept Christina because she’s always on pitch with her singing. She’s got great control of her voice even when she does runs. Jacquie is not there yet and so she tends to get very pitchy when she hits the high notes and it has an unpleasant shrill sound.

Jacquie has sang these heavily belted notes before in tune and been patronized. Her voice just doesn’t fill out belted notes that well. She definitely needs more time before that side of her voice clicks with others.
Not that it’s regularly out of tune or pitch. Which is hard to say it wasn’t for this performance.
The same notes I’ve heard Jacquie hit I’ve heard Tessanne hit and be praised whereas jacquie was not.
The difference, ones voice is more mature than the other. It fits

I thought Cole’s country song last week was boring but I actually liked his choices this week as they suited his voice. James Morrison has a kind of bluesy gravely voice so it suited Cole’s voice. The Hall & Oates Song was also a good song choice.

Tonight was the first time I really liked Tessanne and thought she was the strongest of the night.

While it wasn’t Matthew’s best night, he wasn’t horrible. “Story of My Life” is hard because it’s done by a group not a solo artist, so you miss the harmony. “When a Man Loves a Woman” I think would have been much better if he hadn’t been trying to belt it.

1st song:
1. Jacquie
2. Tessanne
.
3. Cole
.
4. James/Will
.
6. Matthew
.
2nd song is a trickier call:
I will just say that Matthew did better than he did on his first song for sure. Tessanne did well although not quite as well as with her first song. Jacquie sounded remarkably like Xtina to start the song and also at the end, eerie! She was pretty solid on a super tough song for the whole first loud part, although about 3/4 in there were a few rough things but then she ended it really well. A tricky choice both technically and since anyone picking the diva diva songs tends to get hated on on these shows if even one little itty thing is not utter perfection. Will seemed similar. Probably James too.
.
Sadly I know I will hate the results at best and viciously despise them at worst, I hope not that latter, oh man. It’s rough though any result, as I said, would be unpleasant at best.

I really think she shouldn’t sing The Voice Within.
It’s not the hardest song to sing, but the song fits Christina’s tone (TONE, not style of singing and all that) so well it’s hard to imagine another singer singing it.

Every week I am impressed by the overall talent on the show. I do think each week rides on the performances and the song choices. I just bought Hey Brother by Will, and wow, the recording is awesome. I didn’t even know the song before. I do hope he is safe, but it’s a tough call. I think James is a bit overrated by Adam, but he is good. I just don’t know what’s his “lane”, even though I hate that concept. Jacquie has so much potential, but without a win, will Christina still try to help her? She hasn’t done anything for any of her artists. I thought Lindsey Pavao was incredible, and we haven’t heard a peep from her!

I’m in a minority here I did not like Jacquie’s version of cry baby I don’t appreciate screaming as a vocal both of her songs had no feeling to me. Rich girl was Cole’s best vocal to date. Matt buddy Xtina lost this for you.